A man was killed in a shooting early Sunday morning at The J. Parker rooftop lounge at the Hotel Lincoln in Old Town, according to Chicago police.
According to police, the shooting occurred around 1:21 a.m. Sunday at the North Side hotel’s rooftop lounge on Clark Street.
According to police, the 35-year-old victim got into a fight in the lounge with another man. After that, the suspect shot the victim in the chest.
According to police, he was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and pronounced dead.
Hayden Croucher, a hotel guest, said a lounge employee burst into his room moments later looking for cover.
“The guy runs in and then I see him run out, and then he stopped and knocked. And I’m like, ok what’s going on? I go up there. He’s like stiff bodied. And I’m like, ‘Man, what’s going on? And he’s like, ‘Someone just got shot upstairs. Can I just come in and hang out?’ It sounded sketch, but I let him in, Croucher said. “I calmed him down and he’s like, uh, he said he heard someone arguing over water bottles or something like that. And he said no one really thought it was a gunshot. It was like a pop. And a manager or something like that screamed to everybody get out of there, and that’s when he just ran.”
According to police scanner traffic overnight, investigators are still looking for the shooter, who allegedly ran down the stairs and out the front door of the hotel.
While it’s unclear whether the victim and shooter knew each other, police said a physical altercation erupted between them when one pulled the gun on the other.
There is no one in custody, and Area Three detectives are looking into it.
Hotel Lincoln’s lounge, located just steps from the lakefront and directly across the street from Lincoln Park, is popular among Chicagoans for its panoramic views of the city.
Some area residents have expressed concern about the Hotel Lincoln rooftop lounge and its potential expansion in recent weeks. At the end of last month, management and community members met to discuss the hotel’s plans to add 1,700 square feet of space to the rooftop, with the goal of having it ready by next summer.
The hotel’s area general manager, Dan White, would not elaborate on what occurred but issued a one-line statement saying, “we are fully cooperating with law enforcement as they conduct their investigation.”
While there are likely surveillance cameras inside the hotel, police have yet to release any footage that could aid in the capture of their suspect. The victim of this heinous shooting has also yet to be identified.
Police have not released any additional information about the shooting.
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